Homeward Sounds | Javier Perianes, piano

Mozart’s Symphony No. 33, composed while the 23-year-old was still living at home (begrudgingly) in Salzburg, crystallizes the breezy and inviting style of his youth. By the time he performed his final piano concerto twelve years later, Mozart had reached new heights of elegance and sophistication from his adopted home in Vienna. Javier Perianes, bringing “his silvery tone, which has the consistency of aural mercury” (Los Angeles Times), adds his name to the illustrious list of guest pianists who have championed Mozart with Orpheus. A chamber orchestra arrangement by conductor Dennis Russell Davies expands the sweet miniatures that Dvořák composed for friends to play at home.

Works listed in red are part of Now Hear This, a new Orpheus initiative dedicated to re-imagining musical gems from the past with new orchestration!

Composer James Matheson speaks about his new piece Still Life:

“There’s a double meaning to Still Life; both in its reference to a style of visual art that focused on the complexity of arrangement within a seemingly simple form, as well the fact that the surface simplicity of a still life also has a shimmering activity in the details of the work; a productive tension between the surface detail and the simple form that holds it together.

The second meaning here is simply acknowledging that, despite the division into polarized groups that define the political and social system today. It’s still life as it has always been.”